Researchers have attributed acupuncture’s rise in popularity to scientific studies and patient testimonials that have proven its safety and efficacy. Professional practitioners in naturopathic medicine are championing efforts to inform and educate the public about acupuncture and its widespread application.
Here are some health benefits of acupuncture according to research...<<<Read More>>>...
Historically speaking, the principles of balance, Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, came to light during the Warring States period in
By observing the flow of nature's energy from season to season we can understand the checks and balances that are present in our own ecosystem. What is true in the environment in which we live is also true within each of us. Our interwoven body-mind-spirit follows the same principles in sickness and in health.
Often times the western physician separates the various organs and functions of the body into different systems and categories. In traditional acupuncture our state is viewed from a larger perspective, as one would view an ecosystem -- no single part can be fully understood without an understanding of the whole. By hearing, seeing, smelling, and feeling, a well-trained Five Element acupuncturist can interpret which of the elements is your unique causative factor and on which level of the body-mind-spirit to focus.
So, what are the Five Elements? First, note that each element has a correlation to a particular season, a color, a sound, an odor, an emotion, a tissue type, a time of day, a climate, an organ function, and other details that contribute to an understanding of the person who demonstrates an affinity with the given element.
Starting with the element of the most quiet time of year, a time of inner reflection, of germination; wintertime is Water.
Following Winter, Spring bursts forth with the vigor of youth, with an abundance of energy, vision, goals; springtime is Wood.
Spring winds give way to longer days and a time for play and joy, a time for passion and romance, a time of social activity and heat; summertime is Fire.
Summer's heat vaporizes the ground waters into a rising humidity, the sky yellows, spring plantings are ready to harvest; Late Summer is Earth.
The days begin to shorten, humidity drops, and the sky becomes clearer. With faith that the harvest will see us through till next Spring, we let go as leaves fall from the trees. Autumn is Metal.
Each element feeds the next and is dependent upon it just as in a mother-child relationship. If an ailing mother cannot nourish her crying child, simply treating the symptom (the immediate need of the child) will not correct the causative factor (the concerns of the mother, the source). A Five Element acupuncturist seeks to locate the source, to balance and strengthen the energy where it is weak, and the symptoms in turn become resolved.
During the initial diagnostic session, we have the opportunity to evaluate your relationship to these influences and how we may best proceed in helping you restore your natural balance. It is through the balancing of all the elements of nature in and through you that your body-mind-spirit can best adapt and choose your true path.
Acupuncture treats the human body as a whole that involves several "systems of function" that are in some cases loosely associated with (but not identified on a one-to-one basis with) physical organs. Some systems of function, such as the "triple heater" (San Jiao, also called the "triple burner") have no corresponding physical organ, rather, represents the various jiaos or levels of the ventral body cavity (upper, middle and lower). Disease is understood as a loss of balance between the yin and yang energies, which bears some resemblance to homeostasis among the several systems of function, and treatment of disease is attempted by modifying the activity of one or more systems of function through the activity of needles, pressure, heat, etc. on sensitive parts of the body of small volume traditionally called "acupuncture points" in English, or "xue" (ç©´, cavities) in Chinese. This is referred to in TCM as treating "patterns of disharmony".
Treatment of acupuncture points may be performed along several layers of pathways, most commonly the twelve primary pathways meridians, located throughout the body. Other pathways include the Eight Extraordinary Pathways Qi Jing Ba Mai, the Luo Vessels, the Divergents and the Sinew Channels. Unaffiliated, or tender points, called "ah shi" (signifying "that's it", "ouch", or "oh yes") are generally used for treatment of local pain. Of the eight extraordinary pathways, only two have acupuncture points of their own. The other six meridians are "activated" by using a master and couple point technique which involves needling the acupuncture points located on the twelve main meridians that correspond to the particular extraordinary pathway. Ten of the primary pathways are named after organs of the body (Heart, Liver, etc.), one is named for the serous membrane that wraps the heart (Heart Protector or Pericardium), the last is the 'three spaces' (San Jiao). The pathways are capitalized to avoid confusion with a physical organ (for example, we write the "Heart meridian" as opposed to the "heart meridian"). The two independent extraordinary pathways Ren Mai and Du Mai are situated on the midline of the anterior and posterior aspects of the trunk and head respectively. The twelve primary pathways run vertically, bilaterally, and symmetrically and every channel corresponds to and connects internally with one of the twelve Zang Fu ("organs"). This means that there are six yin and six yang channels. There are three yin and three yang channels on each arm, and three yin and three yang on each leg.
The three yin channels of the hand (Lung, Pericardium, and Heart) begin on the chest and travel along the inner surface (mostly the anterior portion) of the arm to the hand.
The three yang channels of the hand (Large intestine, San Jiao, and Small intestine) begin on the hand and travel along the outer surface (mostly the posterior portion) of the arm to the head.
The three yin channels of the foot (Spleen, Liver, and Kidney) begin on the foot and travel along the inner surface (mostly posterior and medial portion) of the leg to the chest or flank.
The three yang channels of the foot (Stomach, Gallbladder, and Bladder) begin on the face, in the region of the eye, and travel down the body and along the outer surface (mostly the anterior and lateral portion) of the leg to the foot.
The movement of qi through each of the twelve channels is comprised of an internal and an external pathway. The external pathway is what is normally shown on an acupuncture chart and it is relatively superficial. All the acupuncture points of a channel lie on its external pathway. The internal pathways are the deep course of the channel where it enters the body cavities and related Zang-Fu organs. The superficial pathways of the twelve channels describe three complete circuits of the body, chest to hands, hands to head, head to feet, feet to chest, etc.
Traditional Yoga and acupuncture texts say there are thousands if not millions of meridians running through the body. One reason why traditional Oriental theories have been rejected by modern science is that anatomists would ask “Where are all these mythical meridians?” It turns out they were looking at them all along but did not recognize them for what they were. Connective tissue is everywhere in the body, it is in the dermis of the skin, it forms and interpenetrates every bone, every joint, every organ, tissue, and cell.
The connective tissue and fascia form a mechanical continuum, extending throughout the animal body, even into the innermost parts of each cell. All the great systems of the body – the circulatory, the nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system, the digestive tract, the various organs – are ensheathed in connective tissue.
This matrix determines the overall shape of the organism as well as the detailed architecture of its parts. All movements, of the body as a whole, or of its smallest parts, are created by tensions carried through the connective tissue fabric.
Each tension, each compression, each movement causes the crystalline lattices of the connective tissues to generate bioelectric signals that are precisely characteristic of those tensions, compressions, and movements. The fabric is a semiconducting communication network that can convey the bioelectric signals between every part of the body and every other part.
This communication network within the fascia is none other than the meridian system of traditional Oriental medicine, with its countless extensions into every part of the body. As these signals flow through the tissues, their biomagnetic counterparts extend the stories they tell into the space around the body. The mechanical, bioelectric, and biomagnetic signals traveling through the connective tissue network, and through the space around the body, tell the various cells how to form and reform the tissue architecture in response to the tensions, compressions, and movements we make